Friday, November 1, 2013

Observing the Day of the Dead (Again)

In Mexico and in Mexican expat communities, November 1st and 2nd mark
"Día de Muertos," or Day of the Dead. The two days are a chance for
families to remember their lost ones, combining ancient Aztec, Mayan,
Náhuatl, Purépecha and Totonocao traditions with Spanish Christianity.

In the days prior, many Mexicans put up an altar in their house. Usually
adorned with flowers (cempasúchil, or marigolds), a candle for and
photo of each loved one, sugar or chocolate skulls, fruits, the sugary
"bread of the dead" (pan de muerto), pumpkins, candied squash, religious
symbols and paper decorations, the altar is said to be an offering for
the departed.On the first day of celebrations, families that
have lost children will go to the graves where they are buried, clean
and paint the site and spend the night telling anecdotes and stories.
Usually, they leave toys at the grave.

The second day
commemorates adults who have passed away and the tradition is similar to
that of children, but it is common to take to the grave typical Mexican
drinks such as tequila, mezcal, pulque or atole.

What´s uniquely
Mexican about these days is the attitude. Ancient indigenous views took
a more natural view toward death: the spirit of the departed was
determined more by the way the person died rather than their behavior
during their time on earth. Death was an accepted, not feared, part of
life. These perspectives, with infusions of Christianiaty, are present
today, not only on Día de Muertos but in Mexican culture in general.

Día
de Muertos traditions, which coincide with All Saints' and All Souls'
days and have similar variants in Latin America, are especially
prominent in southern and central Mexico. Each region has its respective
adaptations, and the customs can vary from town to town. Even in the
sprawling Mexico City metropolis, the tradition is strong.
The
city held a mega-offering in its humongous Zócalo, or main plaza, for 10
consecutive years, but this week's offering was cancelled as the
country is hit by an economic crisis. However, nearly all of the
capital's 16 boroughs feature their own altar, and the National
Autonomous University of Mexico, or UNAM, is dedicating a mega-offering
to poet Edgar Allen Poe.

Día de Muertos has evolved over the
years. When celebrated during pre-Hispanic times, human skulls were
used. Now, sugar and chocolate skulls, or calaveras, have come to
symbolize the celebrations, and Aguascalientes-native José Guadalupe
Posada mocked the Mexican upper-class society with his etchings of the
famous La Catrina in the early 1900s. The portraits, often featuring
dancing and partying skeletons, along with satirical poems and prose
mocking the living and describing personality traits, have been taken in
as part of the celebrations over the years.

To the dismay of
traditionalists, inevitable culture clashes have made the Mexican custom
increasingly popular in the United States, while Halloween's presence
is growing in Mexico. Costume parties, horror-movie marathons on cable
and children dressed as Chucky trick-or-treating are becoming more and
more common.

Día de Muertos, a rich, colorful, spiritual,
religious, complex, humorous, heart-filled, sad, bittersweet, evolving
and very Mexican tradition, is a unique blend of cultures, with a
growing presence wherever the "muerte es parte de la vida" (death is a
part of life) attitude is present.

[Ed. - On the 100th anniversary of his death, Posada's artwork is being celebrated with several large "Skeleton Lady" statues at Mexico City's Zócalo plaza.]Video Source - YouTube via Lonely Planet